Cnapter 20 



FIBER-PRODUCING PLANTS 



Food and clothing were to primitive man, as they are to 

 present day civiUzation, two of the prime necessities of Hfe. 

 Although man's first garments were of animal skins, he early 

 sought a type of clothing that was lighter in weight, cooler, and 

 more pliable. Thus the use of several of our present-day plant 

 fibers have their beginnings lost in antiquity. As civilization 

 progressed, demands for fibrous products became greater, and 

 the number of plants used as sources increased, until today there 

 are probably well over a thousand species used, since in the 

 Philippines alone there are seven hundred and fifty such plants. 



Plant fibers may be classified in a variety of ways: according 

 to their use as textile fibers, brush fibers, etc.; according to the 

 part of the plant in which they occur, as stems, leaves, etc.; or 

 according to the groups of plants in which they occur, as Mono- 

 cots or Dicots. The classification used here groups the fiber 

 sources with regard to Dicot or Monocot nature, and subdivides 

 these groups upon the basis of the plant parts from which they 

 come. 



Fibers from Dicot Stems 



Flax may well be man's oldest textile plant; five thousand 

 years is a moderate estimate of its antiquity as a cultivated plant. 

 In value of its products, flax is exceeded only by cotton, which, 

 however, it surpasses in quality of textile fabric. Flax plants 

 grown for fiber are slender, little-branched annuals with small 

 [white or blue flowers and fine leaves, growing to a height of 

 [around three feet (fig. 231). They grow best on moist fertile soils, 

 Un cool humid regions; such conditions are especially present in 

 pie northern Europe2in countries of Russia, Belgium, Germany, 



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